5 Steps to Surviving Stress-tember

September 2021 has proven to be even more demanding than September 2020 ever was. With the increasing cases of COVID, addressing learning gaps due to the last two years of COVID slide, catching kids up when they're out for 2 weeks, getting caught up if you're out for 2 weeks, and balancing the personal issues that go with COVID, September is definitely a stressful month for us all.

With everything coming at us, how do we deal with the stress? How do we deal with all the demands coming at us? How do we deal with the frustration of others as well as our own frustrations? There is a solution, and it involves you.

5 Steps to Surviving Stress-tember.

1. Count your Blessings - You make the choice to be stressed or blessed. If you are breathing, you are blessed. Look at all you have. You are blessed. If you can make it to work and make it home, you are blessed. Others are not so fortunate.
2. Stop Focusing on Everything - You are a human, not a machine. You can't do everything. Also, with more tasks on your plate, you can only do so many in a 24 hour day. Prioritize your work, and recognize some things will have to wait.
3. Give Encouragement to Others - You may think it's crazy to give when you feel you have so little time to give, but if you encourage others, you in turn encourage yourself, and that shot of dopamine decreases your stress.
4. Share Concerns with Leaders - Your leaders are stressed out as well. If you have concerns they need to know because those concerns can help them steer the ship or adjust the sails in these turbulent waters.
5. Give Yourself and Others Grace - In order to win the race, you must give yourself some grace. You will fail. Others will struggle, and many will be overwhelmed. Be an ambassador for grace and give it graciously.

Bonus - Don't Neglect your Family - When we get stressed from work, we have nothing left in the tank for the people supposedly matter most in our lives. When it's time to go home, go home. The work will be there when you come back tomorrow. Without your family, your work is meaningless anyway.

With these 5 steps, you will be blessed, but without them, you will be stressed. If you want to survive September, you have to remember that tough times don't last but tough people do. You also have to remember that it could always be worse.

Don't be overcome by the circumstances. Instead overcome them by believing in all that is good, pure, noble, and praiseworthy. If you do, you will watch your stress decrease tremendously.

God's speed...

Are You McFarland USA?

Last month, I saw McFarland USA. The movie is based on the true story of teacher-coach, Jim White, who took 7 impoverished teens from the migrant school of McFarland High School and turned them into cross-country champions for the state of California. What was interesting about White was his reputation as a teacher-coach that had overstayed his welcome at too many schools, and now, he was at his last stop in the teaching profession, McFarland, USA.

As the movie began, I thought to myself, "Oh great...  Is this another Freedom Writers or Stand by Me? Is this another Hollywood depiction of a heroic teacher who helps a few kids succeed in a hopeless American school?  Will I see the principal as another apathetic and overwhelmed leader?  Will I see another disconnected community with frustrated parents?"  After all, when was the last time, Hollywood actually portrayed a public school as something more than a death trap where only a few kids learned from the one and only teacher that could teach?  That is not the true story of American schools, so at the very least, I was skeptical.

Wow, was I surprised?

McFarland was nothing like any movie I had ever seen.  The students wanted a better life.  The principal was actively supportive of White and the team.  The parents and community rallied around the team and ultimately transformed McFarland as a whole because Coach White, the washed up coach, not only changed the lives of his students, but he was the catalyst that transformed a struggling school and community into a positive place that rallied around its periennial state champion.  In this case, it wasn't the campus or district leader that led the change.  It was the teacher who led, and the leaders who followed.  If White had waited for leadership to take the lead in building his team, he may have never had a championship team or even a team at all.  If he had waited for permission to create something new, he would have never changed the lives of his kids.  White didn't wait for a leader to lead his vision, because he was the leader.

So are you McFarland, USA?

If you're waiting on someone to create the conditions for you to make the ultimate impact on kids, please stop.  That someone is you.  If you are waiting on the community to rally around you, please stop.  Create a contagion that forces the community to follow you.  

Pride and success can only be built with a passion for excellence. With passion you can create something that has never been built before. You can change a culture that has been desperately yearning for it.  You can change lives.

Coach White built McFarland, USA for several reasons. Because he had no other career options, because his back was against the wall, and because he had unbelievable grit and determination, he was able to inspire an entire school community to believe in his commitment to one thing, excellence.   We must remember that we all have the ability to transform our schools and communities if we will believe in our passion and our abilities. 

There is a Coach White within each one of us, and it is our job to dig deep to find our inner leader and push ourselves to believe in the power of our position. No matter what role you play, you must always remember that you have the potential to transform an entire community if you will believe in your potential and passion.  The only question we have to answer is this. Will we wait for someone to give us permission to live our passion, or will we take full advantage of the opportunity that has been given us?

#TheChoiceIsYours

Celebration: The Accelerator of Learning

Celebration is the fuel in your school, and the more fuel that you have, the further your organization can go. If you think about school improvement, it is a big bus on a long journey, and if we never stop by the gas station to fill up, the bus won't get that far.  Teachers and students need to be motivated to accelerate in their growth, and that can only happen when we remember to celebrate continuously. 

In this post, I will share my ideas on how we leaders must praise what we preach, promote our values, and acknowledge effort and commitment to learning. Whether it is a student who just passed a big test, or the secretary who makes everybody's job easier, school improvement will only accelerate when we celebrate. 

14 Ways to Accelerate Learning through Celebration.  

Virtual Celebrations

Instagram - Benjamin Gilpin has one of the best Instagram accounts for celebration. Every day he is sharing pics of how fun his school is and how much the kids are learning. 

Twitter - My school district's Twitter account (@tatumisd) is constantly celebrating students and staff accomplishments that are academic or athletic.  Our district and campus leaders are celebrating any event where our kids are growing or our staff are going above and beyond. 

Blog - Every week in my school blog, I make sure that I celebrate our staff and students with pictures and stories of our great educators who are making great and innovative things happen in the classroom. 

Face to Face Celebrations

Now virtual celebrations are great and everybody in your community can see them instantly, but people also need to feel appreciation through face to face contact.  Here are some ideas. 

Handshake & a Smile

Nothing is more meaningful and more personal than looking someone in the eyes, shaking their hand and thanking them for the great things that they're doing.  Make a point to do this every week.

Handwritten Note

The art of writing a handwritten note is becoming a lost art form. That is why it is a great tool to celebrate hardworking people. Receiving a handwritten note of appreciation fills the soul. 

Sonic Drink

Surprising your staff  individually or collectively with a drink from Sonic or your favorite fast food restaurant is a great way to celebrate. To expedite the process, you send out a Google form to get everyone's order and then you can turn the responses into individual stickers via a mail merge.   This helps you get the order fast and helps the restaurant get everyone's orders correct.

Google Form Questions

• Name
• Drink Order
• Room Number (helpful for large faculties)

Group Celebrations

If you don't have the time, and you want to celebrate the work of the entire school, group celebrations are a must. 

Staff Incentives 

Celebration Room 

Todd Nesloney shared a post about his celebration room at his school. (Click here). He has a dedicated space where every person can be recognized and encouraged by every person in the school.

After School Party
At your next faculty meeting, surprise your staff with a faculty party. You can still have the meeting but having a party will make a huge difference. 

Random Jeans Day

This is a huge deal in many schools. Given at just the right time when they least expect it will put a pep in their step.   Given too much, it will lose its effectiveness.

Student Incentives

Celebration is best for kids when it is earned. As a teacher or principal, students need is to set goals for them and provide a celebration for when they reach the goal. Here are a few examples that you can use. 

Dance Party

This is a great way to celebrate elementary to middle school age kids who have displayed excellent behavior or hard work in learning for a month or 6 week grading period. Set a goal, and the kids look forward to the punching their ticket to dance party when properly promoted. 

Dodgeball with the Principal

What kid (elementary to high school) doesn't want to pelt the principal with a dodgeball?  So use great behavior or academics as the goal to play with the principal.  If you don't like dodgeball, kickball works just as effectively.

Surprise Bell  

To celebrate good attendance at the elementary and middle school, I had a surprise bell incentive and the kids never knew when it was coming. The bell would ring and we would check attendance. The classes with the best attendance for the day received treats, extra recess or some other incentive.  Celebrate attendance.  After all, it will motivate them to make being at school a priority.

Extra Minute in Passing Period

To promote school-wide attendance at the high school, I had a standing daily goal of 98% daily attendance. For any day that the goal was reached, students had an extra minute added to their passing periods on the next day.

Teacher Developed Class Incentives
In a school where teachers are creating celebrations for student learning, kids are super focused.  When teachers want to create an incentive for their class, encourage and support it.  It will accelerate the learning in that classroom.

What gets Celebrated gets Accelerated

Nothing gets people more involved and engaged in working and learning than acknowledgement and appreciation. Celebration is the best way to acknowledge hardwork and show appreciation for a job well done. Some detractors would say, "well they should do a good job because they're expected to."  That is true; however, how much better would kids and adults do if they worked in a culture that honors achievement and celebrates success at the organizational level all the way down to the individual level?

10 Tips to Fire your Kids Up for #MarchMotivation

It's March, and the kids are ready for spring break, but when they come back, will they be reinvigorated about school?  Will they be fired up for learning your content?  Will they be running into the building or counting down the minutes until they can run back out of it?  Well, that depends on the excitement that each one of us brings to the table.  

Springtime is about new growth.  It is about change and rebirth.  We mustn't forget that our students get excited for learning when our lessons bring changes that engage as well as motivate.  This month, I want to challenge you to bring #MarchMotivation into your classroom.  All it is is a motivational tool to bring excitement for learning into the classroom.  It's a theme to inspire kids to give their best every day.

10 Tips for #MarchMotivation

1. Review your expectations for behavior and learning.  Students need a refresher on this when they return from any break, especially spring break.  Be sure to address behaviors that have been lacking in the past month.
2. Set an academic goal for the next month.  It may be for standardized testing or raising your score on the next test or performing well at the next big competition.  When students are presented with a goal for learning, they are more inclined to meet the goal.
3. Start a Countdown - How many school days do we have to reach our academic goal, or how many days do we have to get ready for the big test?  Post a countdown on the board, and build excitement about the fact that the kids are going to prove to the world how awesome they are academically.
4. Have an academic competition where students or groups can compete for the most growth in the next month.
5. Incorporate a reward or privilege system for overachievement.  Students will surpass expectations if they know there's something in it for them.
6. Tweet / Instagram or Facebook Awesomeness - Most students get pretty jazzed when they make it into your social media space.  When they amaze you, tweet it out.
7. Positive Parent Contact - Parents will join into your #MarchMotivation if you call them to report that their kid did a fantastic job in class for the day.
8. Race to 100 (Click Here) - A tool to challenge and reward students and the class for exhibiting outstanding learning behaviors.
9. Multiplication Rock Star Competition (Click Here) - A fun game to accelerate memorization of math facts.  This can be easily adapted to any concept that you want students to develop automaticity.
10. iMovie Motivation (Click Here) - Use iMovie to make 50 second videos of the awesome learning & awesome kids in your classroom and share it via social media.

March is here, and the kids are ready for summer.  Don't miss your opportunity to motivate and inspire your students to maximize their learning.  The excitement that you build for learning could, at the most, change a student's life, and at the least, give all of them a spring that they will never forget.

My One-Word Resolution

Well, Christmas is over and the New Year is upon us.  I have been really focused on selecting my 2015 resolution.  I have so many things to work on and so little time.  Obviously continuing to work on my health will always be something that I strive to improve upon, but I don't consider being healthy a profound New Year's resolution.  After all, improving my health should be part of who I am, not what I resolve to become.                                                                                            
So I continued to reflect on my leadership, my current role in my new district, my efforts to be a better husband and father, and my writing.  There are so many choices and they're all important, but I still can't decide what to select as my New Year's resolution.

That is until I came across this doodle (right) that I made on the InkFlow app followed up by this bit that I read by @LeadershipFreak called "Don't Make a Year's Resolution; Find a Word"  These discoveries reminded me that I have too many things to improve upon.  Does anybody feel the same way about their resolution?

When I present, I often say "When you focus on everything, you focus on Nothing!"  These words could not better apply to my New Year's decision than now.  So for my new year's resolution, I will not lose weight, or be better at this or that.  I will simply FOCUS on being my best and avoiding distractors.

For 365 days, I will focus on what needs to be accomplished each day and not let anything or anyone detract from that focus.  I find that this one-word resolution is much more profound than an elaborate, one-dimensional resolution.  I'm looking forward to putting this focus picture on my screensaver and striving to be more focused in all aspects of my life.  My hope is that if I commit to focus each day, I will accomplish more than I every could being committed to one resolution.

What will your one-word resolution be?

6 Sparks of a Scintillating Teacher

I love watching "Minute with Maxwell", a daily email that comes into my inbox each morning.  This morning a fireball of a word piqued my interest, Scintillating.  I knew what the word meant, but the mere pronunciation of the word sparked my intrigued in John Maxwell's message.  I just had to find out what he would say about the word in his video.  

As he went through his vivid description of the word, some of my favorite teachers of all time bursted to the front of my mind. Their electrifying lessons captivated me.  Their individual consideration made me feel like their class was designed just for me.  They walked their talk, and that influenced me to do the same.  Finally, these instructional idols inspired me to shoot for the stars in my own life, and they did that with high expectations accompanied by amazing accountability and stupendous support.

6 Sparks of a Scintillating Teacher 

To be even more definitive, each of these teachers possessed 6 sparks that didn't just motivate me.  They motivated all students.  Hope you identify with them.

Brilliant

Her intellectual prowess drove me to constantly ask the question, "How does he know so much about this content?"

Rousing

His passion for telling us the story of history took me on a journey back in time. 

Invigorating 

His dynamic presence made me believe that I could be equally an expert of this content. 

Gung-Ho

Her excitement and love for life and teaching challenged me to be a more selfless human being. 

Hypnotic

Listening to her 'why' behind the 'what' entranced my mind and made me view life and content in a way that I had never experienced before. 

Thought-Provoking

His unique way of explaining my thinking to me redirected me to correct my own mistakes without ever hearing that I was wrong. 

So what other Sparks would you add?

Scintillating teachers sear learning into the minds of their students. Kids rarely forget these superstars because their content is branded into their brains.  But there are other descriptors that make a scintillating teacher, so drop a comment and share your thoughts.  Who inspired you by being a firecracker of a teacher?  What was it about their teaching that fired you up?  After all, that is how we become better teachers, by emulating the greatness in others.

Honor Labor Day now that It's Over...

How did you view Labor Day?  Was it viewed as one more vacation before summer was over or a teachable moment for your children? Sure we got out the grill and we celebrated with our friends and family because that's what Labor Day is about. It's about taking a day off from work to relax and reflect, but we need to remind our students and ourselves why Labor Day was created, to honor the history and value of hard work. 

The History of Hard Work

Employers never gave their employees a break from work. Many employees in the early 1900s worked six or even seven days a week from daylight to dark without any overtime pay or any relief from work. Where do you think the term, backbreaking work, came from?  It came from our ancestors who never had a day off, and who never had a break

Labor Day didn't come easy. It came as a result of employees saying that they deserved a break.  Employees stood up to their employers, and as a result many laws were created to help employees. Labor Day was one of those laws. 

Labor Day was created to honor hard work and hard workers, but here's the question. Does our country still see Labor Day in the same way as our ancestors?  I'm afraid that as our country gets more forgetful of its history, we will start to view Labor Day as another just another holiday. 

We have to remind our country and our children that:

• Our country is the best in the world because of hard work. 
• Labor Day is a day that honors the freedom and rights of our people to work hard for a decent wage. 
• Labor Day was created to recognize the outstanding work of our nation. 

Labor Day should remind us that our freedom hangs on our work ethic. The kryptonite of our work ethic and our freedom is called laziness and entitlement. Labor Day is a day that was earned.  It was not given to us. In order to keep it, we need to remember that we must look at work and work ethic as important and meaningful things in our society. Hard workers succeed and lazy workers fail. Lazy workers depend on others, and hard workers depend on themselves. 

This month let's preach the importance of hard work.  Let's make work a good word again. Let's make Hardwork what we aspire to do not because we're told to do it but because we know that it makes us a better person. 

Negative Attitudes screw up Progress (Slide)

Well, I got a flat tire, and it really messed up my day, so I couldn't pass up an opportunity to share this analogy. Negative attitudes screw up all of us. Whether they be negative attitudes coming from our coworkers or attitudes coming from within, we must never forget that negative attitudes screw up everyone's progress down the path of success. 

http://flic.kr/p/nN4992

The Best Kind of PC

What our culture is lacking is PC. There is a deficit of people who are considerate, who truly understand PC. Organizations would be so much more effective if they would truly adopt the philosophy of PC.

No, I'm not talking about political correctness. 

I'm talking about Personal Commitment. 

Personal commitment is a deep rooted desire to see the environment around you flourish. It's an unwavering promise to see things through. When you think of someone who has overcome insurmountable obstacles to accomplish an unbelievable goal, that's a perfect example of personal commitment. If you think of the perfect family who has stuck together through thick and thin, you're seeing personal commitment, and when you remember your favorite team that put all the pieces together to win the championship, you're envisioning personal commitment. 

So do you personally have the 3 layers of personal commitment?

PC to Self

The qualities of personal commitment to self can be summed up in one word, industrious. With every word or action, PC people give it their all. Their focus is not self-serving but self-improving. People who are committed to their self-growth know that their commitment lies in never relinquishing their God-given responsibility to learn and grow. 

PC to Others

The second level of personal commitment has nothing to do with yourself but with others. If you think about the high divorce rate or the staggering number of children suffering from abject neglect, it all boils down to a complete lack of personal commitment to others.  Our country's media has glamorized self-serving behavior which promotes blatant disregard for the needs of other people especially those closest to us. If you think about the adage, love your neighbor as yourself, that is the essence of PC to others. We must deny ourselves of our personal needs so that we may fulfill the needs of others.  Our spouses and children need personal commitment to others from us more than any other possession known to man. 

PC to the Greater Good

If we truly believe in committing to our own personal growth and development as well as serving others before ourselves, then we understand that we must constantly commit and recommit to the greater good. No matter what your role is (teacher, administrator, custodian, etc.), you must have a personal commitment to see that the organization you serve grows and prospers. You hold a piece of the puzzle that can make the organization more successful. However if your focus is on committing to your self-preservation, you will never share that piece of the puzzle to actually make the greater good come to the truest fruition.  Think of it this way. When you commit to the growth of the organization, you are actually committing to yourself at a deeper level. 

PC is the Best PC

If you think about personal commitment, it is actually better than any form of political correctness. Political correctness by itself does not commit to helping others grow and improve. In fact, it solidifies the status quo. I'm not saying that we shouldn't consider our words before we say them, but I am saying that we should use our words and actions to make people and this world a lot better than it already is. 

Think about it. If every person in this world was deeply committed to making themselves a better person each and every day, if every person was committed to their spouses, their children, and their families, and if they were deeply committed to the organizations and groups that they spend the majority of their time at, wouldn't this world be a much better place?  What's lacking in this world is not political correctness. It's personal commitment. Every problem that has manifested itself in our world has evolved because of a lack of commitment to self, others, the world or a combination of all three, and now is the time to take a stand and better our world by expecting personal commitment from those who impact our lives. 

How do you feel about personal commitment and how will you encourage and model PC to others this week?

Communication Lessons from Charlie Brown

Do your children ever fail to pay attention to you? I mean your personal children.  As soon as the word, clean, comes out of my mouth, I know instantly that my children are tuning me out. As soon as words, did you, leave my lips, I know they're not listening. Chores are not their favorite thing to do, and talking to them about their chores is not my favorite thing to do either. Now that I think about it, there may be a correlation between my communication style and their listening.

So in your classroom, do your children tune you out? Can you instantly tell that your students lose focus and are glazed over while you are talking to them?  Even the best teacher in America has this problem from time to time. Are there times when you feel like you are Charlie Brown's teacher?

If you feel like your students are tuning you out, it's nothing personal. It's not that they disrespect you; it's that your communication is so routine that they are becoming immune to it. And it's not that you have nothing interesting to say. It's that the tone, cadence, and passion are the same. If you think about it, before I even played the Charlie Brown video, you knew instantly the sound of the voice of Charlie's teacher. I've never heard a word she said, but I can hear her voice like I was in her class today. 

Wah Wah Wah Wah. 

To get the wah wah wah out of your presentation, it's time to change things up a bit. 

Tone

Does everything that you say come out using the same tone?  Children respond better to auditory stimuli that vary in pitch and volume. If you talk loud all the time, maybe try talking soft some of the time. If you're a quiet person, it is time to get that loudmouth out. Kids respond well to a variety of tones in communication. If you think about it, everyone responds to a variety of tones, so one type of speaking tone will never reach every kid in your class. 

Cadence

If you talk slow all the time, people tune out quickly. If you talk at a rapid pace every time you say something, kids are not receiving every word in your message. Is your cadence harsh or is it meek and mild? If your cadence sounds like a drill sergeant, students will instantly turn off their ears, but if your cadence is more like a whisper, students won't even acknowledge that you're there. The rate and emphasis at which words are spoken plays a huge part in student engagement. 

Passion

Charlie Brown's teacher was boring.  She was not there to make learning fun. Passionless teachers suck the life out of listeners while passionate teachers optimize every aural minute that learners are in the room. Their enthusiasm for learning and fun stimulates interest in the process of not only learning but life. 

So where is your communication?

The best way to find out what type of communicator you are is to record yourself on audio or video. I prefer video because you can see the response of your students to your communication. Yes I know that we all hate to listen to ourselves speak, but this topic is too big not to investigate. If you have a kid that is struggling in your class, don't you want to know if the student is even listening to you?  That might be the first step in intervening for the student. If you have students that are being loud and disruptive, don't you want to know if your loud communication style is setting a poor example for how students should speak in your class or if your quiet tone is being ignored each time your correct?  If students are zones out in your class, don't you want to know if some of your students perceive you as that teacher from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"?

If you want to improve your instruction, one of the first steps to start with is evaluating your own communication style toward students. Delivery of content is completely dependent on the manner in which you verbally communicate to your students.  How you speak sets the foundation for learning, and it is critical to know if you have a solid foundation for learning.  By evaluating the tone, cadence, and passion within your communication, you can ensure that every student, especially Charlie Brown, learns in your classroom.

Say Yes to the Stress!

State testing season is right around the corner, and stress is saturating every school in your state. In some states schools stress over being named as a failure if they fail to make growth or perform, while other states go as far as to name the teachers individually who are failing to "perform". The stress is mounting every day as we prepare ourselves to be judged on the performance of each student on one given day on one test.

I have to admit I get a little bit stressed myself with the thought of failure. I don't want my name or my school's name listed as a low performing school. My credibility and reputation are on the line just like your reputation is on the line. It is a natural feeling that we all have. 

Can't We Just Say NO???

Now we could say "NO" to all of the stress that we are under, or we could say no more of this ridiculous insanity.  We have every right to say no to the insanity, but here's the thing. Today is not that day.  This week will not be the week to say we can't handle any more stress. There's only 1 way that you can stop the stress. We can quit serving kids. 

That's it. Unless you quit your job, the stress will be here each and every day. That's where accountability is these days. So if the pressure of the test is going to always be present, we need to accept it and move forward. 

Why We Must Say Yes!

Here's the deal. Accepting the stress isn't enough.  We have to start saying "YES" to the stress, and there's only one reason why we are morally compelled to accept the stress. 

The kids are counting on us.

Seriously, you cannot be possibly under more pressure than a nine-year-old kid that has to perform well on reading, math, writing, science and social studies over the next 2 years.  How would you like to know if going to the next grade was dependent on your ability to bubble in answers on a test? I never had to deal with that as a kid. To put it in perspective, your reputation as an educator is nowhere near as big a deal as the trajectory of a kid's entire life based on one day and one test. 

See what I mean?

The test will come, and the test will go.  Some will pass, and some will fail. Schools will be labeled as winners and losers. It has been that way for 20 years, and not much is going to change in the next couple of years. 

But here is one thing that you can change, your reaction. The way that you react (or should we say overreact) to the stress will make a huge difference in how kids respond to your instruction. The way you respond to their work ethic, lack of motivation, or their performance on a test makes a massive impact on the life of a child. 

We must remember to channel our stress in a positive way that strengthens relationships with kids, builds their self-esteem, and empowers them to act on their unique abilities and potential. By saying "YES" to the stress, we are confidently brushing aside the negative effects of state testing and accepting responsibility to do whatever it takes to make every child successful. Now don't you think that is stress worth saying yes to?

If Jamaica can Bobsled, Low-Socio Kids can Compete...

The Jamaica Bobsled Team is nothing short of inspiring to watch.  Think about it.  They lack resources.  They come from a country that doesn't have tons of economic support beating down their door.  Heck, they don't have snow or ice.  There should be no reason why they should be in the mountains, let alone competing in the Winter Olympics.

But they don't know that.

Sure, they don't have years of tradition, prestige, and gold medal excellence like Russia, Switzerland, USA and Canada.  They don't have a world class training facility, and they don't have scores of coaches and contracted service providers to help them win.  There should be no reason why I'm watching them on NBC tonight.

But they don't want to hear that.

Here's the point.  Kids of all sorts of backgrounds, languages and experiences walk in our doors.  Some come from world class homes, and some kids come from homes with no water or electricity.  Kids walk in the door 2 years behind their affluent counterparts due to lack of experiences and vocabulary.  Neglect and abuse plague many kids and mask their potential to compete with their peers.  Lack of financial resources and adequate nutrition negatively impact students' ability to learn.

But we accept this...

Jamaica Bobsledding was nothing until someone believed in the concept of this tropical island competing in a sport it was not prepared for.  It took a lot of hard work and soul-searching for Jamaicans to believe they belonged with their affluent counterparts of the tundra.  It started with one person, a vision and a team, and it resulted in a shattered paradigm and a country transformed.  Now, they are the most recognizable bobsled team at the Olympics.

And we can do this...

Low socio-economic student CAN learn with their affluent counterparts.  We have to stop accepting this paradigm and create a new one that requires us to stop teaching in the one-size-fits-all model.  Kids deserve meaningful differentiation, personalized learning opportunities and targeted responses in the eyes of failure.  All kids can learn as long as they have educators who cannot see barriers and are prepared to do whatever it takes to help kids learn.

If Jamaica can bobsled, low socioeconomic kids can learn with their affluent counterparts.

5 Challenges from Kindergarteners to all Educators

I did walk-throughs in my kindergarten classrooms last month. All I can say is wow!!! Kids are capable of so much, if we remove the barriers of our own biases. Today's post is in honor of my kindergarten teachers and their awesome students. The strengths that they pull out of kids are a testimony of what every educator must do for all kids.

As I reflect on my own experience, I sometimes stopped student potential simply because of my own biases of what I thought students were capable of.  We all do that from time to time.  We allow our own experiences and failures from teaching kids to limit our expectations for all students.  So here is a little challenge for all of us when we begin to doubt what all students can do.  The kindergartners at our school are doing amazing things, and that is because of the limitless expectations of our teachers.

If kindergartners can...

Write nonstop for 25 minutes using their sight words and letter sound knowledge, then all students have the potential and stamina to concentrate as they create meaningful examples of their learning. 

Present their writing to the class, then any student can stand in front of an audience and share their knowledge and their learning with others. 

Receive constructive feedback from their peers about their writing, then any student can be confident displaying their work for other students to critique. 

Read their writing to their peers, all students can be expected to read and write at high levels every day in every class. 

Help one another make their writing better, then all students can collaborate on their work in an effort to make it better and to learn from one another. 

You can virtually teach everything a kid needs in kindergarten. Sure, content will get more complex over the years, but the idea is this. Kindergartners come with little educational experience. Aside from PK (which does an amazing job preparing kids for Kindergarten), we assume they can do very little. The sad thing is that we believe this mess. Kindergartners come to school with tons of knowledge and absorb everything we throw at them. All kids in grades PK-12 are the same. They come with immense potential, and our job is simple:  create a motivational environment full of wonder and amazement so that kids will demand of themselves to not only meet but exceed their potential. We must challenge and applaud kids when they take risks, share their failures and celebrate their successes with their peers.  We must constantly promote a thirst for new knowledge, and we must model being passionate about learning and life. After all, passion is what kindergartners have when they start school. Our job is to make sure they never lose that passion throughout not only their education but their life. 

#EasyToSayHardToDo

Transforming our Dream into a Vision

One of the most memorable speeches in American history is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech.  As he spoke to hundreds of thousands in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963, he had a vivid vision of a day where children of all races would come together at the table of brotherhood.  He saw a day where people would be judged “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”.  For those of us who never grew up in a time where Jim Crow ruled the day, it is indescribable to witness 50 years later the passion and commitment that Dr. King and millions of others had to make our country a better place for all people.

The interesting thing about Dr. King’s speech is that it actually wasn’t a dream or even a wish.  It was a vision.  It was a powerful belief that went far beyond hope.  He anticipated a new day where the ways of the present would be replaced by a much better future.  But here is where the dream turned into a vision.  Dr. King didn’t stop with his words.  He worked tirelessly and fearlessly to make the vision of the civil rights movement a reality.  People rallied.  People suffered and many died, but the vision never ceased.  With each day, the vision inched closer to becoming more real than it was the previous day. 

So in thinking about the definition of school vision, what are questions that schools should ask to define their vision?  School visions describe what the school hopes to become as a result of its daily commitment to the mission.  If the school truly believes in its mission of educating 100% of the students that arrive on its doorstep, what would the school be like when it realizes that mission of truly educating every child?  This vision represents a roadmap for decisions that must be made to construct the campus culture that reflects its constant movement toward the school that it desires to be.

When DuFour et al described school visions in “Learning by Doing, 2^nd Edition” (2010), they made the following descriptions.  “Vision statements are credible and focus on the essential outcomes for every kid.  Vision statements are used as a blueprint for improvement and they are widely shared through collaboration.  Vision statements are not opinions or wish lists.  They are not something to be ignored or worse dictated or developed by few”. Mattos, Buffum and Weber (2012) described a vision as collective responsibility or “a shared belief that the primary responsibility of each member of the organization is to ensure high levels of learning for every child”.

If we truly believe that all kids can learn, we must stop dreaming about it.  We must define what our school will look like when every kid learns.  From there, we must use that vision to make the rough places plain, and the crooked paths straight.  That means we must stop accepting excuses for why things can't change.  We must confront practices that do not align with that vision, and compel our colleagues to commit to believing in the potential of 100% of the kids that walk through the door.  By forcing our actions to visualize a better future, we will no longer be touting our dream with a banner on the wall, but planting that dream in the hearts and minds of every student in the building. 

So what will you do to make your dream a vision?

5 Ways to Find your Roar in 1-4

Christmas is over, and it's time to make those New Year's Resolutions. I know, I know. You're thinking, "What's the point?"  Resolutions never work. You feel guilty in January for making it in the first place so you start hitting at it, and by February, it fades into oblivion. Why do you think most workout joints turn into ghost towns in February?

Here's the reason. Permanent results require permanent changes. Unless we're committed to behaving differently, we can't really expect resolutions to have all that much effect on us. Resolutions require a little bit more than words of aspiration. They need a detailed plan of action which describes the behaviors that we will exhibit on our quest to achieve the desired outcome. 

Roar 

I always connect with motivational songs, and Katy Perry's song, "Roar", is a great motivator. The beat is catchy, and the lyrics are inspiring. The lyrics to the chorus represent exactly what every mindset needs to commit to a New Year's resolution. 

I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire. 

'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar. 

Louder, louder than a lion. 

'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar. 

#PutThatOnYourMotivationPlaylist

So How Does This Apply to Me?

If you're wondering how you can make that New Year's Resolution actually come to fruition, here's 5 ways to help you find your "Roar in 1-4". 

1.  Set a Specific and Attainable Goal

Define in specific and attainable terms the person that you would like to become in 2014.

• What specifically do you want to be better at in your leadership, your health, your personal life or all 3? 
• What will you be like when you reach this goal? 
• How will you be different?  

If you don't have a vision of what you will be like when you reach your goal, you don't have much of chance of accomplishing the goal. 

2. Develop a Plan of Action. 

Define the specific behaviors and activities that you need to implement to accomplish your goal. If you want to be a better, you must commit to learning how to be a better. Reading, careful study and  learning from others are key action steps to making that should be included in your plan. 

3. Find a Coach or Accountability Partner

If you want to reach your goal, you need to find somebody that can hold you accountable. Find someone that will be honest with you and keep you on track. Ask them to help you stay focused on reaching that goal, and coach you when you start to struggle.

4.  Measure your Progress

Resolutions fail because people fail to measure change over time. Just like a scale measures your weight, all goals need to have some way to be measured. Whether it is quantitative data that can show you numerical progress or the qualitative data of feedback from peers and colleagues, determine the data that you will collect to gauge growth. 

5.  Recommit Every Day

Change is never easy. It challenges us to get out of our comfort zone and be something different from who we currently are. If you want to reach your goal, you have to  recommit to your resolution every day.  If you stick with it, chances are you will reach your goal. We all get weak and have moments where we want to stop.  Keeping the goal in the forefront helps us never give up. 

Hear Me Roar

Resolutions are very important part of the beginning of each new year. If you think about it, you really only have about 70 opportunities to make a New Year's Resolution stick. We forget that the purpose of a resolution is to test our resolve and to challenge us to be a better person, a better spouse, a better parent, or a better leader.  Sadly, many resolutions fade away due to the stress and the busyness of life. Resolutions fail because people say they don't have time when in actuality they fail to make the necessary time to invest in the change. In 2014, I challenge me and you to not make a half-hearted resolution. I challenge all of us to make time to find our "Roar in 1-4".

Teaching Kids the Highest Leverage Skill

In our standards-based education system, we are engaged in a never-ending effort to teach every high leverage skill. We focus on skills that are so critical that they are foundational for learning standards far into the future.  If you have ever worked with a student that had gaps in his learning, you can instantly tell where his gaps lie. You can quickly identify the skills that he is missing. Some students close gaps quicker than others and some never do. Why is that?  

It is because few kids possess the highest leverage skill. 

Some people feel that reading comprehension, fluency or numeracy are the highest leverage skills, and they are from an academic perspective.  But without the mindset for learning, these skills struggle to grow. 

So what is the highest leverage skill?

Some people look beyond academics and feel that self-confidence is the highest leverage skill. With it, you can do anything. Without it, growth is minimal. Kids, that make the biggest gains, do so because they have been hard-wired to believe in themselves.  This positive image of one's own abilities generates strength and the desire to take risks. Like it or not, self confidence is not the highest leverage skill. 

Some believe persistence is an invaluable skill. To learn difficult concepts, kids must have resolve. They must keep going when they hit the brick wall. Persistence is what turns practice into progress, but I'm sorry to say that while persistence is valuable, it is not the highest leverage skill. 

Enough Already, What is the Highest Leverage Skill?

Hope.  Eric Jensen sited hope as the difference between students of poverty making it or not. Hope is the eternal belief that life will get better. No matter the obstacle, circumstance or barrier, hope of a brighter future is the only thing between a student's reality and his potential.  In short, self-confidence and persistence can't exist unless there's hope. 

How do we teach hope to our kids?

Educators must transform the role of content-instiller into that of hope-builder. We possess massive potential to turn hopelessness into a viable vision. We build hope in students by doing the following things:

1. Help students create their own meaningful pathway to a better life. 

2.  Set challenging but realistic goals to measure progress along the way. 

3.  Guide students to find short-term wins. 

4.  Facilitate student thinking and problem solving through setbacks and losses. 

5.  Teach kids a never-give-up mentality. 

How do educators become hope builders?

1.  Stop thinking about teaching content and start teaching kids.  Content will come once we focus on teaching kids. 

2.  Connect with kids on a human level. Relationships are the pathway to learning. 

3.  Model hope by expressing personal beliefs in students to everyone we encounter. 

4. Never give up. Never give up. Never give up. 

Hope is the antibiotic to fear and uncertainty. It is the GPS used to navigate the winding road of success. Hope overcomes obstacles and dissipates doubt. Finally, it is accompanied by faith, joy and love. 

Got hope?

Collecting Thanksgiving Data

This month, we give thanks. For centuries this long-standing tradition encourages us to pause and reflect on the many blessings that often we take for granted. On social media, many post their thanks each day for all the world to see, and it has a positive affect on those who read them. 

But in the workplace do we give thanks? Are we truly thankful for the people who contribute and support us in our career. At work, we spend half of our waking hours interacting with the same people everyday. We take our colleagues for granted, and we come to expect them to be there when troubles in our work arrive. But are we truly thankful for the people that affect our work and more importantly our lives?  We collect data on our product, but do we collect data on our appreciation for our coworkers?

This month, our art teachers created Tom the Turkey and placed him on the front whiteboard in the office where we often display data or schedules. This month, we will be promoting a different type of data, Thanksgiving data. We challenged the staff to give thanks for the people who affect them the most. 

It's pretty simple. You take a feather and write a word of thanks for a fellow employee on campus.  It can be someone you work closely with or someone that brightens up your day. Then you place the feather on the board. 

The hope is that by Thanksgiving break, Tom's plumage will completely develop and fill up the whiteboard. We also hope that the kind words from everyone in the building will reinvigorate spirits and remind everyone why we are here and how important each member of the staff is in our school. 

If every staff member truly matters in the success of the organization, then is your organization collectively giving thanks for each one of them?